Spud construction for dredges



Dec. 22, 1959 c. E. ELLICOTT, JR

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United States Patent-9 2,917,851 S'PUD CONSTRUCTION FOR DRE'DGES,

Charles E. Ellicott, Jr., Baltimore, Md., assignor to Ellicdtt MachineCorporation, Baltimore, Md., a corpo i ration of Maryland ApplicationDecember 3, 1956, Serial No. 625,911 I Claims. (Cl. 37-73) 'Ihisinvention relates to dredges and more pa rticularly to a spudconstruction for dredges which facilitate the 'LlSB'Of the dredge in thewater and the launching.

for convenient handling and storage of the spuds when the dredge is tobe transported over land from one site to another. V

- The spud construction of the instant invention includes two walkingspuds at the stern of the dredge, one of which is a'side walking spudand the other of which is a forward Walking spud and wherein the bow ofthe dredge is provided with a pair of spaced non-walking spuds which maybe used as a pin upfspuds during certain dredging operations and whereinthe spuds may be manipulated for storage on the deck of the dredge andwherein the spuds may also be employed to facilitate the launching ofthe dredge from an over land carrier or the placing of the dredge on awheeled vehicle for transportation.

,According to the present invention, all of the spuds are characterizedby hydraulically actuated means for not only lifting the spuds but fordriving the same downwardly. The spud construction is also characterizedby an-arrangement wherein the hydraulic means for raising and loweringthe spuds facilitates the storage of the spuds on the, deck of thedredge.

Accordingly, .it is among the objects of the present in- 'vention toprovide a spud construction wherein the spuds are raised and lowered bya' rotating member mounted on the deck of the dredge and wherein thespuds are tilted for storage on the deck of the dredge by swinging aboutthe axis of said rotating member.

Other objects of this invention are to provide a hydraulic dredgeequipped with self-contained power means and spuds for lifting it out ofthe water and also for moving the dredge around in the water within a.limited area, and'means for lifting out the spuds and storing them in areclining position on the deck.

Another object of this invention is to provide a hy draulic dredgeadapted to be used in relatively small spaces which may be readilyoperated by one operator.

Another object is to provide a walking spud for pulling the stern of thedredge towards the bank as well as to push the stern edge of the hullaway from the same bank.

Still another Object of this invention is to provide a hydraulic dredgehaving a single source of power adapted to provide all of the powernecessary on the dredge, wherein the ladder-cutter and the spuds areoperated by hydraulic pressure means. u

- These and other objects and advantages of this inven- 2 tion willbecome apparent when taken .in conjunction with the drawings wherein: V

Fig. 1 is a side view of a dredge floating on a body of waterillustrating in solid lines the spuds in dredgesupporting position andin broken lines, the stern walking spud while similar lines show brokenview of spuds being lowered onto the deck;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a stern view of the dredge corresponding to Fig. 1;v

Fig. 4 is a plan view of the mechanism for operating side end rearwalking spuds; v

Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken on the line 55 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a sectional view taken on the line 6--6 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 7 is a side elevation view with parts broken away of the mechanismillustrated in Fig. 4 illustrating the drum for operating the spud cableand the motor for driving the same;

Fig. 8 is a broken sectional view through a spud, illustrating theoperating cable and drum;

- Fig. 9 is a schematic view of the hydraulic system for said device;while Fig-10 illustrates the dredge lifted out of the water resting onits'spu-ds and a carrier adapted to be inserted under it fortransporting it.

The embodiment of the invention disclosed herein comprises in generalplan, a floating dredge having a diesel power unit mounted thereonconnected to a hydraulic pump, which supplies all of the power necessaryfor operating the various mechanisms of the dredge. A' dredge ladder,preferably mounted on the bow is adapted tosupport a cutter at its outerend which feeds the silt and soil into a suction pipe, not illustratedherein. Four spuds are provided which are mechanically pushed downwardlyto support the hull independently of the buoyant effect of the water onthe hull. Two of such spuds mounted at the bow are of the non-walkingtype, while awalking spud is provided near the center line at the sternand a side-walking spud is located near the stem.-

at one side of the hull, the latter spud may be used to pull the sternofthe dredge near the bank, as well as to push the stern edge. of the hullaway from the same bank.

Such pushing and pulling action at the stem is effective when used withone or the other of the non-walking'spuds at the bow.

All four spuds may be mechanically embedded in the bottom of the streamand the entire hull may be mechanically raised entirely out of the wateron the spuds near a bank so that a carrier device, such as a truck ortrailer, may be, inserted understhe dredge in its raised position,

the dredge maybe then lowered onto such device by the four spuds, andthen may be carried away to another site where the dredge may be raisedfrom such carrier On the four spuds and then lowered into the water inan obcenter ofjgravity of the spud. is approximately at the A same levelasthe drum shaft, the top ofthe spud may be tipped inboard or forwardand laid down onthe deck manually. In the case of larger dredges, whenthe spud has been raised to the point above described, a

locking pin is inserted to position the spud relativeto the keeper,power is applied to the lifting motor and the spud is tipped forwardmechanically and laid on the deck. An advantage of this construction is,that if it is desired, to Operate the dredge in the conventionalPatented Dec. 22, 1959 manner by swinging it about a stern spud, theladder being rigidly connected to the hull so that it swings as a unit,the forward spuds can be laid on the deck with hoist-lowering winchesdisconnectedfrom the spud cables and used for swinging winches with wireropes and anchors, in a well-known mannerr Hydraulically operatedcylinders are used to operate the two walking spuds disposed at thestern.

In the drawings is disclosed an illustrative embodiment of the inventionwherein the numeral refers generally to the complete dredge including ahull 11, generally rectangular in shape and including a how 12 and astern 13. A ladder 14, adapted to support a suction pipe and a cutter,is disposed at the bow. Power for operating all the mechanical elementsof the dredge is supplied by a'prime mover such as diesel motor 15operatively coupled to a hydraulic pump 16 located on the deck.Hydraulic pressure from the pump 16 is'operatively connected to thevarious devices of the dredge through conduits o-r pipes and controlsschematically illustrated in Fig. 9 as hereinafter described.

Four spuds are provided for raising, lowering and moving the dredge 10,of which two are non-walking spuds 17 and 17c disposed at the bow of thehull, while U-shaped brackets 17a projecting forwardly of the bow andhaving a removable pin 17b connecting the outer ends thereof, retain thespuds 17 and '17c against the hull 11 when they are in use. A walkingspud 18, normally used for advancing the dredge, is disposed 'in" a well18a in the stern while a side walking spud 19, disposed in a well 19a onthe port side of the hull 11 is provided, for pulling the stern 13 of adredge toward the bank and pushing the stern edge away fromth'e bank.

All of said spuds are provided with meansfor vertically raising andlowering them, comprising four individual variable speed hydraulicmotors 20, 20a, 29b and 2110 one disposed adjacent each of the fourspuds, as shown in Fig. 2, said motors are connected through coupling 21to a worm shaft 22 journalled in bearings 23 supporting worm gear 24,which drives a drum gear 25 operatively connected to a horizontallydisposed drum-'26 rotatable on a horizontal axis and keyed to a drumshaft 26a operating in bearings 26b. An upper drum cable 27 having itsupper end mounted around a thimble 29 disposed at the top of acooperating spud and its lower end secured to and mounted around thedrum 26, and asimilar' lower cable 27a having its upper end wound aroundand secured to the drum '26 and its lower end secured to a bracket 28 onthe spud cooperates with a cable 27 to raise and lower a cooperatingspud. The overlapping ends of the cable 27 and 27a are retained by ropeclips 30 in a well-known manner.

It will be understood that rotation of the wormshaft 22 in one directionwill'cause drum 26 to rotate in one direction on its horizontal axis,while rotation of the worm-shaft 22 in the opposite direction willrotate drum 26 in the-opposite direction, thus when the drum 26 rotatesin one direction, it will-force'the cables -27 and 27a mounted on -aspud downwardly and when the drum 26 is rotated in the oppositedirection, they will-raise the cooperating spud, thus both raising and'lowerin'g the spuds. p 7

When his desired to remove the dredge 10* from one body of water and.transport'it to another site, the same may be accomplished byraisingthe dredge on all four" spuds, near the .bank of a stream as illustratedin 10,; and then a carrier device 38 suchas a truck-trailer combination,may be driven under'thedredg'e followed by lowering the dredge onto thecarrier, and the spuds" I may then be raised up and lowered onto 'thedeckin a reclining position as hereinbefore' described. In someinstances,a pow'erwindlass 39*using' a cable 'm'ay be uscd to drawthedr'edg'e onto the carrier 38'. The dredge thus-mounted ontheicarrier- 38 "maybe transported"to the site-of :next use, where thecarrier may be' backed into the stream, the dredge raised on the spuds,and the 4 carrier then driven away. The dredge can be lowered into thewater by Withdrawing the spuds.

The stern walking spud 18 and port side walking spud 19, as illustratedin Figs. 4, 5, and 6, are each provided with individual hydraulic meansfor tilting such spuds on a horizontal axis in addition to thepreviously described means for vertically raising and lowering saidspuds, such means comprising hydraulic cylinders 31 and 31a mounted ontrunnions 32 supported on frames or brackets 33 secured to the deck ofthe dredge 10 at one end thereof, while the opposite end of hydrauliccylinder 31 and 31a are connected to cylinder connecting pins 34supported in frames or brackets 35 rigidly secured to spud carriers 36as illustrated in Fig. 5.

The position of the hydraulic cylinder 31, spud 18 and associated partswhen the spud is in vertical position are illustrated in Fig. 5 in fulllines, while the tilted position of the spud 18 is illustrated in brokenlines in the same figure. It will be noted that movement of the cylinder31 to the left will titlt spud 18 in one direction from theperpendicular position, while movement of the cylnider 31 to the rightwill tilt the spud 18 in the opposite direction about drum 26 as a pivotpoint, such movements providing a walking action for the spud 18 in awell-known manner. The spud 19 is adapted to be op'- erated for awalking movement in a similar manner by the cylinder 31a in an obviousmanner, as illustrated in Fig. 3.

A feature of this invention is that the side walking spud 19'may beoperated by the hydraulic cylinder 31a as above described, to pull thestern 13 of the dredge 10 toward the bank, when it is operated in onedirection and to push the stern edge of the hull away from the same bankwhen it is operated in the opposite direction. These movements beingparticularly effective when'used in cooperation with one or the other ofthe non-walking spuds 17 at the bow 12. 7

Whenever it is desirable to withdraw the spuds from operating positionand dispose them in a reclining position on the deck, as for examplewhen the dredge is removed from the water for transportation to anothersite, the same is accomplished by operating the hydraulic motors 20 toraise their cooperating spuds through the cooperation of the drum 26 andcables 27 and 27a to raise the spuds until their center of gravity isapproximately at the same level as the center of the drum'shaft 26a.

deck manually. In the case of larger dredges, after the spud has beenraised the required amount, alocking pin 37 as shown in Fig. 5, isinserted to position the spud relative to the spud carrier 36 and poweris applied by the hydraulic motor 20 to the lower end of the spud tomove In this way the 1 the upper end of the spud inwardly. spud Wiil betipped mechanically and laid on the deck by the spud carrier 36 pivotingaround the drum shaft 26a. In the case of the walking spuds 18 and 19,the foregoing operation is accomplished in a similar. manner except thatin addition thereto, it is necessaryto disconnect the cylinderconnecting pin 34 shown-in Fig. 5 after the hydraulic motor 20 hastilted the spud to a certain point in order that the spud may be tiltedfurther.

The hydraulic control apparatus for the spuds includes the arrangementiiiustrated schematically in Fig. 9 wherein 59 indicates a control panelhaving the various levers mounted thereon for controlling the flow ofhydraulic fluid from the pump 16 to the various hydraulically In thecase of small dredges, the top of the spud can be tipped inboard orforward and laid down on the of spud 17. The raising and lowering of theport spud 17:: is accomplished by a similar lever 54 which controls thedirectional rotation of the motor 20 actuating the spud 170. A manuallyoperated lever 55 controls the rotational movement of the hydraulicmotor 20b to similarly effect up and down movement of the walking spud18 at the stern of the dredge. The forward'motion of the walking spud 18is accomplished by movement of the control lever 56 toward the indiciaF, thereby introducing hydraulic fiuid at one end of the walkingcylinder indicated at 31, while reverse movement of the spud 18 isaccomplished by moving lever 56 toward the indicia A. a

The up and down movement of the side walking spud 19 is accomplished bymeans of the manually operated lever 57 which controls the directionalrotation of the motor 20c for the side walking spud 19. The swingingmotion of the side walking spud 19 is accomplished by swinging the lever58 in one direction toward theindicia P for port swinging and toward theindicia S for starboard swinging.

From the foregoing it will be understood that swinging all of the levers53, 54, 55 and 57 toward the indicia U will raise all of the spuds sothat they may be swung over the deck and stored thereon. By swinging thesame series of levers 53, 54, 55 and 57 toward the indicia D all of thespuds will be driven downwardly and thus it the dredge is in shallowwater as illustrated in Fig. 10, the dredge will be raised to a positionfacilitating its transportation on a wheeled vehicle. It will beunderstood that after the dredge is in position on the wheeled vehicle,the spuds may be tilted to storage position on the deck of the dredge.The forward progress of the dredge in the water is accomplishedgenerally by the walking spud '18 being lowered and swung aft, thenraised and while raised swung forward.

Having completed a detailed description of a preferred embodiment of thepresent invention so that others skilled in the art may be able tounderstand and practice the same, I state that what I desire to secureby Letters Patent is not limited by said preferred embodiment but ratheris defined in what is claimed.

1 claim:

1. A dredge comprising a hull, an engine and hydraulic pump driventhereby mounted on the hull, a plurality of spuds, each adapted to bevertically raised and lowered on said hull for anchoring the hull on astream bottom and for verticallylifting said hull in the water, at leastone of said spuds being of the walking type for propelling the hullalong a body of water, hydraulic ram means operably connected to saidpump and said one spud for imparting a walking spud movement to suchspud, a drum carried by the hull adjacent each spud, each drum beingrotatable on a horizontal axis, cable means secured to the top andbottom of each of said spuds and to the adjacent drum to move the spudvertically, a rotary hydraulic motor operatively connected to a wormengaging a worm gear fixed on each drum for rotating the drum, theconnection between said hydraulic ram means and the walking spudincluding a removable pin to disconnect the walking spud with respect tosaid hydraulic ram means, and means including a spud carrier ing of thespud carrier, a locking pin for securing said spud to the carrierwhereby the spud and carrier may be interlocked after the spud is raisedby said drum until the center of gravity of the spud approaches thehorizontal level of the axis of the drum and whereby said first-namedhydraulically operated means moves the lower end of the spud to causethe spud to be tilted about the axis of the drum into a storageposition.

v3. A dredging apparatus comprising a hull having a deck, a spudoperably connected to said hull, hydraulically operated means carried bythe deck and operatively connected to the spud to swing the spud on ahorizontal axis to eifect a walking action for the spud, a drum mountedon the deck adjacent the spud for rotation about a horizontal axis,hydraulically operated means to rotate the drum, cable means operablyconnecting the opposite ends of the spud to the drum for raising andlowering the spud, a spud carrier pivotally mounted on the axis of saiddrum having means to guide the spud for raising and lowering movementwith respect to the carrier, interlocking means on the spud and spudcarrier for releasably securing them to each other whereby said spud maybe locked with respect to said carrier after having been moved to apredetermined vertical position with its center of gravity approachingthe axis of the drum whereby actuation of said first-named hydraulicallyoperated means moves the lower end of the spud and causes the same tobetilted about the axis of the drum to a storage position on the deck.

4. A dredging apparatus comprising a hull having a deck, a plurality ofspuds carried by said hull, one of said spuds being of the walking spudtype for propelling the hull along a body of water, hydraulicallyoperated means for swinging said walking spud about a horizontal pivotto produce a walking action for the spud, a horizontally disposed drummounted on the deck adjacent each of said spuds, hydraulically operatedmeans for rotating said drum, cable means connecting the spud and drumfor vertically raising and lowering said spud, a spud carrier pivotallymounted on the axis of said drum, a transverse opening in the spudcarrier, a transverse opening in the spud adapted to be aligned with theopening of the spud carrier, a locking pin for securing the spud to thecarrier whereby the spud and carrier may be interlocked after the spudis raised by said drum until the center of gravity of the spudapproaches the horizontal level of the axis of the drum, said spud andcarrier being tilted by said drum about the axis of the drum into astorage posititon on the deck.

5. A dredging apparatus comprising a hull having a deck, a plurality ofspuds carried by said hull, one of said spuds being of the walking spudtype for propelling the hull along a body of water, hydraulicallyoperated means for swinging said walking spud about a horizontal pivotto produce a walking action for the spud, a horizontally disposed drummounted on the deck adjacent each of said spuds, hydraulically operatedmeans for rotating said drum, cable means connecting the spud and drumfor vertically raising and lowering said spud, a

for tilting a spud to storage position about said horizontal drum axis.

2. A dredging apparatus comprising a hull having a deck, a spudoperatively carried by said hull, hydraulically operated means forswinging said spud about a horizontal pivot to produce a walking actionfor the spud, a horizontally disposed drum mounted on the deck adjacentsaid spud, hydraulically operated means for rotating said drum and cablemeans connecting the spud and drum for vertically raising and loweringsaid spud, a spud carrier pivotally mounted on the axis of said drum, atransverse opening in the spud carrier, a transverse opemng in the spudadapted to be aligned with the openspud carrier pivotally mounted on theaxis of said drum, means for locking said spud to the spud carrierpositioned to be operable only after the spud is raised by said drumuntil the center of gravity of the spud approaches the horizontal levelof the axis of the drum,

said spud and carrier being tilted as a unit when interlocked into astorage position on the deck.

References Cited in the file of this patent I UNITED STATES PATENTS139,727

